Things took a turn for the worse today and Paolo Maldini could well end up leaving AC Milan after a tense meeting, a report claims.
Luca Bianchin writes in a piece for La Gazzetta dello Sport that Milan and Paolo Maldini ‘are close to breaking up’. The meeting between Gerry Cardinale and the director this morning became a very tense face-to-face discussion.
Cardinale and Maldini parted ways with an open contrast and now the risk that the former club captain will leave is ‘high’, and it seems ‘difficult’ for the differences to be mended.
The impression is that this evening will not bring any official news but tomorrow could. It would be a ‘Big Bang’ that opens a new era and closes the Scudetto one in the most controversial way.
Reaching a Champions League semi-final and securing qualification for the next edition had prompted everyone to consider it logical that the management would continue, with RedBird an ambitious ownership and Maldini staying in his role.
However, many problems remained under the surface. The contrast arises from the differences in the plans for the coming months and for next season in particular.
RedBird evidently weren’t satisfied both with the season’s performance, with a fifth place transformed into fourth only by the deduction suffered by Juventus.
They also were not happy with the summer investments, with Charles De Ketelaere and Divock Origi symbols of choices that didn’t give results on the field. However, it is clear that something is missing in the relationship between Maldini and the owners, regardless of the victories and defeats.
Maldini, after complicated years in his relationship with the then-CEO Ivan Gazidis, signed a two-year renewal on 30 June 2022. That contract guaranteed him total autonomy in the technical area, within the budget established by the owners.
This arrived after lengthy negotiation over his contract, which was debated line by line, and that in itself shows there has never really been a full and total understanding.
In this scenario, Ricky Massara would leave as Maldini’s right-hand man but Stefano Pioli would remain as the head coach, because he has always had the trust of the owners and has received public appreciation from both Cardinale and Furlani.
Those who should stay will leave and the one who should leave will stay.
good riddance Gerry Cardinale.
Maldini needs to remember how the teams he played for were actually managed.
Maldini has already been involved in more transfers as director than the club was in the entire he was a player.
I’ve lost count of the number of comings and goings but the squad is now unrecognisable since he took over – and that’s not a good thing.
The most successful sides have stayed together for the longest. It’s kind of the secret to their success. We shouldn’t be buying and selling 7-8 players each way each summer in much the same way Pioli shouldn’t be rotating 7-8 players for a single game.
These are suppose to be elite athletes not bar workers.
Whatever money is available for transfers Maldini needs to work to that budget rather than demanding another person spends their hard cash on his ravenous transfer appetite.
And Pioli needs to forget the notion that there will ever be a squad of players where he can rest 7-8 players against top tier teams.
We need a CF, a CM and winger. Maldini needs to keep his focus rather than playing politics.
You’re talking rubbish.
Elaborate please. There are some valid points there and it is fine if you disagree but simply calling it rubbish adds nothing to the conversation.
According to him: our squad is unrecognisable; since Maldini took over! How many recognisable, names did we even have prior to his arrival? Except Donnarumma and Romagnoli maybe?
“Names” don’t win titles.
Teams win titles.
Maldini should know that better than anyone.
Fair enough, however the main point based on my interpretation of the comment was that Maldini needs to work within the confines of the budget. That is entirely fair since this is largely common practice in every business. One could also argue that Maldini has failed to maximize what money he did have available to him. Sure, you can dispute the adequacy of the budget but ultimately it was largely a poor window to this point and the squad performance in Serie A has largely been disappointing. That falls largely on management because the money was there. I still have hope CDK can realize his potential next season but evaluations can only be made on current and past performances and Maldini has to be held accountable for that from an ownership perspective.
From an outside view of things, I think Maldini should accept the reported 50 million euro budget and ownership should give him the autonomy he craves working within that budget with the caveat that Maldini will be held responsible should next season’s performances not show progress. Sadly, I fear there may be some ego involved that prevents this compromise and I think we have seen the end of this management team as currently constituted.
“Unregcognizable” aside, the thing that baffled me most about Maldini’s reign is how few Italians remained in the club. We were more “foreign” than Inter and that’s saying something.
I don’t agree that; our squad is unrecognisable since Maldini took over.. Well according to you: Our squad was supposedly, star studded, prior to his arrival right? So, how many trophies did we win? During this period?
The reason we didn’t win trophies and kept going backwards was because of the constant upheaval, and the fact that we didn’t have a decent manager.
Case in point is the 14 or so players we signed in 17/18 which included Bonucci an actual champion.
Lo and behold such a massive transformation didn’t work out too well. It’s almost like if a business changes 50% of its workforce in a few months it’ll struggle.
But hey who can’t get enough of the transfer market?
Me.
That turnover was under a different leadership to be fair… purchased without an actual plan. Just threw everything at the wall to see what stuck.
Maldini’s tenure was more planned and scouted but even then, he made a lot of mistakes in the market.
Agreed. These people have amnesia. The squad was terrible before Maldini and none of those sold since his arrival have done anything of note since leaving except Paqueta. The only good players were lost on free transfers and left for a larger salary than Maldini was budgeted to work with. CDK has been poor but we had 10 years prior to Maldini of constant terrible signings.
No dude, it’s not “their” money.
It’s ours, (tickets, merchandise, tv rights), and the team’s (Victories, ranking qualification).
Also, u are obsessed with reducing squad side, and sticking with players who are not good enough.
You wanna be Atalanta? Fine, don’t whine over us who wanna be MILAN!!
No.
It’s actually their money.
Tickets don’t even nearly cover the cost. And that is your only financial contribution.
I want a team with an identity and soul.
And I want to detoxify football and this absolute unrelenting obsession with money, money, money, money, money, money.
I mean what is the actual point of being a football fan if you don’t actually support the players who play for the actual club you allegedly support?
Do you do the same with your partner?
Do you constantly look for better options?
Or is that not real love is about?
No.
It is our money.
If people stop attending matches in stadiums, refuse to watch from their TVs, and stop buying merchandise, the amount of revenue rounds up to a big fat zero, or something close. Nobody will want to run a club like that, much less a fund guy from America.
I want to be Milan. With champagne football included
And to think these owners want to find young talent and sell them for a profit and your talking about being a team that’s been together for 7-8 years. That’s impossible with these owners, unfortunately people like leao will be sold once a formidable offer is brought. Nobody is safe in this team and if you can back cardinale over Maldini then weve lost everything that milan represents, a family.
The Maldini family has been apart of milan for over 50 years and this American comes in who hasn’t even watched a quarter of our games this year wants to get rid of somebody who wants what’s best for the team. It’s an outrage and I stand behind Maldini over cardinale 100%. This isn’t even what’s best for milan, this is what’s best for cardinale and he can go screw himself. He’ll probably default in his payments and more of a laughing stock than the Chinese ownership.
Your comment did not make any sense.
The team is unrecognisable? Really? Do you think Theo would join Milan if it was not for Maldini. The management picked up gems like Bennacer, Tomori, Kalulu, Leao, Tonali. I do not agree that CDK is a complete failure. If you think like this, Milan would be without Tonali, Leao who failed to show much in their first season. If you want someone ready to come to a first team, you need to buy superstars or continue to keep on gambling on the young talent and work to develop them. Donnaruma went for more money. Kessie renewal could be possible if that was not due to the salary cap by the owners. Hakan also left for more money. These are the only noticeable players left. You may think of it like managing a team in Fifa, where you can sign these players with contract extensions and sell them at a high price later. But the reality is with high salary, you will not be able to sell them at high price. Just look at Pulisic, Neymar etc. Last summer Maldini and Massara lost a lot of time on renewals and the lack of quick signings and decision-making cost them to lose Botman, Sanchez, Ziyech, and settle for Thiaw, Vrancxx, CDK, Messias, Origi etc. I think they did a very good job with the time limitation. This year Milan earned around 86M extra in UCL. Why that should not increase the transfer budget is beyond my understanding. Also beyond my understanding how any Milan fan can support the owner for that?
This management recruited young talents and tried their best to develop them.
Gerry Cardinale give his first budget to maldini in january.. but maldini fail to sign any with that budget valued 0
@Maldinis Heir I don’t agree at all. I’m actually glad the squad is not “recognizable” from when he started on in the sense that he got rid of many high earning contracts, poor quality players and replaced them with quality lower earners we have now which is exactly what the owners wanted. So I don’t blame him at all.
I believe Maldini is making certain demands on the budget because he sees we can make the leap to a consistent UCL side by having quality purchases rather than the poor budget that they give him every year to fix the squad. He’s only been here 3 years after all.
When Maldini took over the starting XI was: $ruma, Calabria, Mussachio, Romag, Rodriguez, Kessie, Snake, Bakayoko, Suso, Piatek, Higuain
subs: cutrone, Abate, Castillejo, Borini,Biglia, Zapata,Laxalt, Conti, Mauri, Bertolacci, Montolivo, Paqueta
Fast forward to now, apart from Kessie,Snake and perhaps Suso at RW, we’re better off on many positions. Many of those were getting older and were offered ridiculous contracts from the prior management.
You have to understand that Maldini had to clear out the waste and work under parameters which Milan never in recent history had to work under. You’re telling me you still wanted to see Borini, Bertolacci and Castillejo here? Why?
Did he get things wrong ? Of course. Did be get things right ? Of course.
Did he get things right on his initial demands to management but never got (Sanches and Botman this year, Lang, Werner, Berjwin, Asensio, Luis Alberto last year, Thauvin, James Rodriguez, De Paul, Anguissa, Rudiger, Ceballos, Royal, Vlahovic the prior year)? ABSOLUTELY. Give the man what he requests and if it doesn’t work out then u can fire him for just cause but don’t come here and act like he doesn’t have the vision to see where the club needs to go.
Maybe people need to remember that Maldini the player was under Berlusconi ownership, the club in different pedegri ,different budget,different players (that make a team),different goals:concoring Europe,it also had s flause, no doubt about it, but it was a different club,if you get pennies to buy players, you not going to get the quality all time,its not about Maldini or other directors ,everyone make mistakes, its more about the ownership model and the direction the want to take. We all know the foreign investors goals
Winning the Scudetto with an unrecognizable team. I guess you prefer the banter era. Makes sense.
In all fairness, Maldini has always been very clear about the conditions required for him to work with the club. It was one of the factors that led him to reject joining the management team under Berlusconi, under Li, the tense relationship with Elliott and now with Redbird.
That said, Maldini also knew what he signed up for when joining Elliott and under Redbird. The project has always been built around sustainability with investment in young players and thinking that some success would change that seems a little naive. I hope there can be some compromise between the two but I cannot see an entire business plan being replaced.
I would lie if I said I’m surprised. If we try and forget one second Maldini’s role in Milan’s contemporary history and ponder Maldini’s responsibilities it’s a fact that his main area of responsibility (the transfers) was a total chaos. Dest, Vrancks, Adli, CDK, Origi, were ll blatant failures. Only Thiaw, whose price was €8.5 mio, seems to be a good pick. €8.5 mio out of a budget of €50 mio! which means €41.5 mio down the drain. I have to keep in mind that we are extremely lucky to participate in the next CL
Yes Ur perfectly right Maldini is corrupt might be eaten our money without using for adequate budget.
First of all 50 mio is very small budget considering today’s market. The second one, Milan needed a lot of players to cover many positions within those budget. CDK came far too late, after the preseason. If they let Maldini worked with ideal time frame, he may came way before, or we would’ve even seen different players.
Maldini transfer plan was not what we are got now. But i had to admit that he should’ve gotten much more money from the exit of players. That is something that related back to his own budget. We may had hitting those green numbers in our financial state if he was being wiser
50m euro are the biggest budget for italian club this season . Do you really see any italian club can use more money than AC Milan this season? Lets be honest , italian club are far below EPL club in term of finance then how much money do you want to put in Maldini budget ? 100 m euro ? 200 m euro ?
Those are the bench. Yes it’s terrible and one can only hope we get better in that respect. But we have a solid base and a top starting 7 or 8 players.
Please Cardinale release money for Stefano Pioli to sign solid players into his line up is important Acmilan must it right this season
If the reported 50 million plus sales is accurate, I think that is sufficient to continue building on the project as envisioned. The plan was always sustainability on a young core of players. I don’t see why that would change after a few seasons and one Scudetto. Early success shouldn’t mean a change in course. Until the squad can consistently compete in the CL and for the Scudetto, the time has not yet come to spend big.
ladies and gentlemen;
Just shut up and remember the unstable MILAN before the last three years and be grateful for the progress!
I hope the current administration and players stay with a few exceptions and that the club can bring in a new powerful center forward or two.
The rest seems very good.
VIVA MILAN
Alex.
Well this is definitely news. Yes maldini messed up last summer window, but also got us some super great signings. In fairness, not every signing will be a success in any club. From real, city, liverpool, shinter, juve etc etc. I dont know what to make of this move. Maybe redbird have someone better for the job, maybe they are just low on cash and they were expecting trillions this season, who knows. But, one thing is for sure, this chaos between owner and management is very amateurish. Not good for the health of the club.
ACTUALLY, IN THE LONGER TERM, I THOUGHT MALDINI DID VERY WELL LAST YEAR.
ALEX.
I just want to point out that Igli Tare kept Lazio high and above us this season with just a fraction of Maldini’s Budget, not to mention the diametrical difference of the club status.
Did Maldini do good? I am not sure, what I know is that Cardinale is a businesman who wants to see a clear business plan and execution to it, something we didnt ha e since Berlusconi decided he wanted to run for President of the country.
I would say based on last two years Maldini didnt do well, instead of looking for good young players he was recruiting pizza makers. Sorry but thats the truth.
Is Igle Tare the coach that guided Lazio to a second place finish? 🤔
I don’t know I just wanna ask though but you have decided that Tare is the reason behind Lazio 2nd place finish and not Sarri, so who was the reason behind their bad run in the Europa league 🤔 I think it’s Tare too right?
If and only if Pioli didn’t rotate massively because of champions league, do you think lazio would have ended the season above Milan?
So now Maldini is the reason for Milan poor league performance this season and I hope too that he’s the reason behind Milan getting to the champions league semis unexpectedly or is he gonna be blamed only for the negative outcomes?
Cardinale or whatever the fvck his name is doesn’t love Milan, he doesn’t give a fvck about we the fans.
Whether we like it or not he will do what he wishes regardless.
I just hope this is not the beginning of yet another Milan downfall.
Is Maldini the coach that led Milan back to the Champions league and scudetto?
I don’t know I just wanna ask though.
You see how people push narratives that only fit their agenda.
Everything that Milan achieved over the last few years people credited to Maldini and downplayed Poli.
But in the Lazio case is the opposite, they wanna credit the coach and downplay the importance of the SD who signed SMS , Luis Alberto, Immobile, Romagnoli, Zaccagni on cheap or free.
Pioli would have had much more success if Maldini wasn’t losing his best players for free every summer
The only reason Milan is back in the ucl next season is because Juventus got docked points about something that had nothing to do with this season, and Maldini rated the season 8/10. So we are back in ucl only cause of luck and circumstances.
Well businessmen don’t believe in luck they believe in cause and effect and that’s why Maldini is out
1) Igli Tare has been around for just as much failure as success whereas Sarri just came in, and has a much richer history of success.
2) Blaming Maldini for not renewing players that all went for higher salaries then he was budgeted for is ridiculous.
3) Businessmen don’t believe in luck?… Cause and effect vs luck are now exclusive concept? What are you rambling about????
@Poli You have been saying, this for a long time; “We are in the Champions League, only because Juventus were docked points” Why don’t you, shed some light on? Why they were, docked points? Why show, as if we were favoured? It doesn’t matter, whether if, it was this season or ten season ago.. What matters is; there has been breach of rules..
Their punishment had nothing to do with the field but only with the financial books.
On the field, they had a better season than us and finished with 2 more points.
In the end, Milan didn’t earn their spot in ucl on their own but needed help from the league officials.
Napoli, Lazlo, and Inter spent less money than Maldini and finished above us on the table .
Napoli finished 20 points ahead.
Worse title defense ever.
But people are crying because the man responsible for it got fired
@Poli needed help! That’s understatement.. It looks like, you are sad about Juventus being docked points for obvious reasons! You are making, it look like Italian FA favoured us!
@Milan fan, that’s a typical response by someone who is only debating led by emotions.
No , I am mad because Milan didn’t finish 1st not because Juventus got docked points.
But while you are crying for Maldini, you can go with whatever thinking makes you feel better.
Good luck 👍
@Poli who is debating, with emotions? Me? Who counters you, with obvious facts? Or you? Whose comments, are one sided?
And BTW, not only me.. Most of the readers, here aren’t happy, about Maldini’s departure! But your ego, is too big, to realise that..
Well @Poli atleast i don’t put, non existent blame.. And make it, look like only one person is responsible for this and that! You are sad, because we didn’t get first.. We all are! But we win, as a team, and lose as a team.. Unfortunately you are, too immature to realise that!
Well that’s a huge fraction of the budget because Lazio spent around 40m last year and we spent about 50m LOL. And Igli Tare last two seasons weren’t in the UCL so if u want to praise him this season he was also there the last two seasons and many many before that. OH and when they do make it to the UCL they never show up. This is true in 2000s and it’s true now. Theyre content just to get the ucl money bare minimum every year. It’s how their budget work and they don’t care about titles which if was us doesn’t go down well. Tare has spent quite a long time developing that Lazio team and they are a quality side capable of top 4 every year and potentially the title. But if ur singing his success this year he was also there the last 2 years
If Maldini and Massara must work with in the confine of the budget set by the owners then Cardinale should do everything within his power to make the key players within the AC Milan squad to remain since the owners philosophy is to buy young players with huge potentials.Allowing Kessie to leave without releasing fund to poach a suitable replacement was tantamount to the Management making the proverbial one step forward and two steps back.And frustrating Maldini and Massara out of Milan will be a worse decision by the the Management and the popular decision will be to give-in to Maldini and Massara’s demands, keeping the fabrics of the team by all means and invest heavily in young prodigies with flamboyant potentials will see Maldini and his Technical crew key into Cardinale and his cohorts ideas but prior to that the sides has to meet at the middle to establish a foundation to build on.
My advice:Cardinale should renew the contract of Maldini, Massara and Moncada and make the details public.The contact will be a maximum of four years and Cardinale must approve a £100m this summer for strong foundation and he must approve £50m for the remaining subsequent summers and if after this the Technical Team fail to delivers;I will personally sign a petition to relieve them of their duties but as things stand at the moment my weight is behind the Technical Team.
Bingo!
With Upmost respect for Maldini the player, i believe he has done his part and should move on. and also for RedBird, they have invested a lot to buy the club and they need returns on their investment as every business owner will demand.
Unfortunately, Maldini is not a business person, but football is no longer about passion, but business.
Investing alot of money on players doesn,t always bring the desired result, rather smart investment does.
I feel the effect of learnig this business side of football from Leonado is affecting Maldini, and as we all know, Leonado is all about spending. the way you start learning a skill is vital on how you develop the skill set.
Spending money to improve the squad is great, unfortunately Maldini may not have proven to the management that he can align this with how the project plan is, based on the last two transfer windows. As a Milan fan, i will support a sports director like Mocanda, whom i hear is a possibility for the role and who has proven time and time again that he will get you good players with the budget you are willing to spend.
Forza Milan, Forza Maldini, Forza RedBird Capital.
AC Milan is bigger than any individual.
Dont forget Gerry Cardinale start his tranfer invesment with 0 budget in Jan.
A host of players are now being reported as considering leaving the club following reported sacking of maldini&massara.
Theo/maignan/leao
This will have a massive knock on affect
Maldini stated live on TV that Milan needed to invest and push on to the next level ,
He would have been portraying this to the squad
As all these mentioned players are top professionals, who want to see progress and ambition from there club , to contend for the title and European silverware ,
Seeing M&M sacked would tell these players that’s not the case because they know that’s what maldini wanted.
I’m afraid we may have another period of mediocrity lurking in the doorstep the 3 mentioned players are our backbone to build on.
My fear is we will become a feeder club to the likes of Liverpool etc
I as a Milan fan for over 25 years was hoping we had turned the tide left the “banter era” behind I fear a new banter era loading
cant wait for people here to stfu once results starts flowing with proper investments and no Origis
People here think everything is Pioli’s fault and Maldini is perfect lmao
We are walking a treacherous path if the identity of the team is linked to Maldini, too much power for one individual to have. What I love about Maldini is his passion for Milan, and that made me feel safe. What makes me unsafe is if the incomings (Theo signing for Milan) and outgoings (Theo reconsidering his future) are linked to the love for an individual and not the team. This parting is unfortunate, but let’s see how this pans out. It might be good for the team in the long run, however the contingency plan for the immediate future is just as important. Hope the management did not make an emotional decision but a rational one based on what’s good for the team.
Maldini is the best manager for milan.